Distributed monitoring systems and methods are provided for monitoring a vehicle, such as a rotorcraft. One exemplary system includes a plurality of sensor management modules onboard the vehicle and coupled to respective sensing arrangements mounted onboard the vehicle to provide measurement data corresponding to a respective mechanical component. A mobile device is communicatively coupled to the management modules over a wireless network associated with the vehicle. The mobile device configures the management modules for sampling their sensing arrangements, receives the measurement data obtained in accordance with the configuration information from the management modules, determines the condition of the respective mechanical components based on the corresponding measurement data, and displays a graphical representation of the condition of the respective mechanical component.